Mononoke Hime

When an Emishi village is attacked by a fierce demon boar, the young prince Ashitaka puts his life at stake to defend his tribe. With its dying breath, the beast curses the prince's arm, granting him demonic powers while gradually siphoning his life away. Instructed by the village elders to travel westward for a cure, Ashitaka arrives at Tatara, the Iron Town, where he finds himself embroiled in a fierce conflict: Lady Eboshi of Tatara, promoting constant deforestation, stands against Princess San and the sacred spirits of the forest, who are furious at the destruction brought by the humans. As the opposing forces of nature and mankind begin to clash in a desperate struggle for survival, Ashitaka attempts to seek harmony between the two, all the while battling the latent demon inside of him. Princess Mononoke is a tale depicting the connection of technology and nature, while showing the path to harmony that could be achieved by mutual acceptance.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

San Main

Ishida, Yuriko Japanese

Ashitaka Main

Matsuda, Youji Japanese

Gozen, Eboshi Supporting

Tanaka, Yuko Japanese

Kodama Supporting

Yakul Supporting

Moro Supporting

Miwa, Akihiro Japanese

The Forest Spirit Supporting

Iinuma, Kei Japanese

Jiko, Bou Supporting

Kobayashi, Kaoru Japanese

Toki Supporting

Shimamoto, Sumi Japanese

Okkoto Supporting

Morishige, Hisaya Japanese

Suzuki, Toshio Producer

Miyazaki, Hayao Director, Theme Song Lyrics, Creator, Screenplay

Gaiman, Neil Script

Pannetier, Jean-Marc Script, ADR Director

Reviews

Mar 12, 2008

Phill-z

Recommended

Let me start by saying that I am not a Miyazaki-disciple. I do not view him as the "grandmaster of everything anime." When I say "yeah...Miyazaki is ok" I say it not out of ignorance (I've almost every one of his films) but because I personally find him to be incredibly overrated. However I find that when he has all of his stuff together, Miyazaki can destroy practically any other director out there, the man is incredibly talented, but his problem is consistency.

When I say that Princess Mononoke is his masterpiece, I mean it. It was the first film where ... he finally got everything together and made a perfect anime film. Some will say that Spirited Away is better, but Mononoke is so much more powerful than that.

Story: Miyazaki does not like civilization. He stated once that he would prefer it if we went back to living in the fields, he wants to get rid of all technology. In Mononoke we see the evils of industralization and how humans are killing the earth. Humans can coexist. But many purposefully try to make themselves better and stronger. Miyazaki does an absolutely amazing job of showing that industralization, if handled the wrong way, is an incredible evil, but that it is in the hands of humans..of real people. I didn't really care all too much for the story, but I found his use of spirits to be incredible. I wasn't a huge fan of the story itself, it was a country boy goes to the city vibe...but I was a huge fan of all the political jabbings that Miyazaki was throwing. I will admit that I didn't notice it the first time around, I was told this as I watched it the second or third time, by my friend who is a Miyazaki acolyte. The beauty of the story really comes after you watch it the second or third time, as the whole movie experience is very overwhelming.

Art: I give it a 7. I am not a fan at all of Ghibli. I absolutely cannot stand their use of recycling their characters. I hate how all the women look exactly the same, and the men have the same annoying mustaches and beard combos that obscure almost their entire face. I find it lazy and incredibly detracting. I found that Ashitaka was.....boring, his design was so lacklustre that I have now just googled him to figure out exactly what he looked like. Where the art shines in this is in the spirits (gods), the creatures, and San. The designs of those characters alone redeemed the art for me. Also worth noting that in the beginning all those "snakes" were done digitally, which was, for me, impressive.

Sound: Eh....what can I say. Miyazaki films ALWAYS have great music and soundtracks. I have never found an instance in watching any of his films where I've gone "hey, the music doesn't really feel right." The music in his films are absolutely superb.

Character: I felt that the characters weren't really people so much as symbols. I felt that Ashitaka, in a certain way, was innocence. When his arm is cursed he is given a power that he cannot wield and he struggles to find a way to cure it, to get rid of the curse that now stains his arm and will kill him. Eboshi was industralization, but she was also compassion. I felt that she was the most human of all the characters, even though many people view her as an antagonist or slap her with the label of "oh..she's the evil lady." The thing I appreciate about this film is that there are only a handful of truly bad people. Everyone else is human. San is humans living with nature, but at the same time she is a beast herself. She lives in harmony with nature and has absolutely no qualms about killing to defend her land. Every character is multifaced, however if you only view the movie once you might not see the different characteristics of each character.

Enjoyment: The perfect Miyazaki film. It is deep for people who are looking at it closely, but it is also just a fun film for people who are only looking for something fun to watch. The first time I watched this (the first Miyazaki film I'd ever seen) I wasn't impressed at all. Mind you, I was probably 10 at the time, this was the first exposure to REAL anime I'd ever had. But as I watched it again recently I realized just how great of a film it really is.

However it really is accessible. You talk to almost anyone about anime and they'll probably (99% likely) know about Princess Mononoke. I know that this turns a lot of people off. Personally when someone comes up to me and says "hey, I saw Samurai Champloo and it was great, can you recommend me anything else kind of like it?" It makes my skin crawl a little bit. However, Mononoke is a staple, and is really something that you should watch, if you haven't watched it, I would definitely put it at the top of your to-watch list.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Mar 18, 2017

ItIsIDio

Mixed Feelings

• My grasp on why people consider Mononoke Hime great.

It is another Miyazaki masterpiece that showcases beautiful landscapes and the theme of preserving and protecting nature from of the oh so evil humanity, and how it will also pushback when it is demanded of it. It is one visually stunning tale which manages to capture visually the importance and beauty of our surroundings, as well as the ferocity and primality of nature. Striving to find the balance between us and nature is something we should seek for the benefit of every living being on the planet, so this also makes Mononoke Hime really forward thinking. ... The dedication to visual details, as well as its theme and the fact that it doesn't really pursue a moral echelon where the conflict revolves amongst the forces of good and evil, but rather on industry and nature, is what make this movie great, and worthwhile to watch.

• What I think of Mononoke Hime

Mononoke Hime made me cement in my values that I should always be skeptical of the praise something that gets critical acclaim from anyone. Not because the praise for the things it is praised for are a mute point, but because I might not hold these aspects at the same value as other people. Whenever I hear someone praising a Ghibli movie, I always hear that this made me >feel< in a certain positive way through its well directed visuals, but I usually hardly ever hear the thoughts on the story itself, the writing of the characters, general theme representation. It is usually a blend of three things, which are: how the person felt, how it will make me feel or simply how it should make me feel. The problem with how I should feel or how I will feel or how you felt, is that this is going to be my experience and I hold different values to you, as well as have my own feelings that are influenced by my own experience and thoughts. So rather I prefer to talk about what I thought, what you might think and what you might value when approaching the movie, because your experience simply won't be the same as mine, and you can reach a conclusion yourself based on the information you're given.

First of all, the reason most Ghibli movies are praised in this fashion is due to a huge merit that they completely deserve to be given. They pay a lot of attention to the details they put into the animation, to facial expressions, to realistical movements, to well executed SFX to match the visuals and so on and so forth. Due to this, Ghibli movies are undoubtfully gonna find some willing participant who is gonna love them. Because they have really well detailed visuals which will make you experience things visually no other movie will make you experience. The Ghibli studio have honed the visual department to such a huge degree, that I consider everything else past the presentation to often be really subpar or mediocre, simply because it focuses on every single visual detail it presents a little too much.

For instance, in this movie, the theme of the story is the presentation of industrialism against nature, but it starts by focusing on a character that doesn't really have any role in the story, besides being around. He doesn't really have any personal benefit from any events in the plot and he merely is an explorer, who was cursed by a boar upon the death of said boar. He then flees his village to find a cure. None of this really ties in with the goals of either faction of the movie, the animals and the industrial village. But unfortunately, he is the protagonist of this movie. I am serious when I say that this character truly did not have a purpose besides being around. He is not involved in the main conflict in a personal manner that would affect his life, or has any direct effect outside of making the outcome happen about 15 minutes faster. He doesn't really have a personality, and he is mostly presented as a stoic jesus protagonist that is capable of doing anything. The character has no flaws, no sides he is really on, and the movie isn't really truly about him. He is simply pointless, but he is dragged around everywhere, despite the fact that the movie might be simply be told better without the existence of this character, simply because the character itself doesn't really enrich the story's theme and progression in any way, and the characters would be the exact same way despite his interactions with them. He truly has no role or influence over anything. A good chunk of the start focuses on him getting the curse and him going on the journey, before introducing the actual elements that will actually matter.

But how did I find the theme executed outside of this character? Somewhat shallowly, because it relies on your preconceived notion of nature and industry, and your awareness of the fact that we are hurting nature by simply having technology. I don't find that either side is strongly displayed. One side, the human industrial village, simply seem to want to improve their technological advances throughout the movie and be dominant, but there isn't really any strong motivating factors to drive them to do that, other than greed. But greed doesn't simply come out of nowhere, and the message of "nature should be preserved" comes across as "eating your own shit is bad" in terms of how eloquent is portrayed. Because, yes, everybody has ambition and ambition can be detrimental to your surroundings. But understanding the ambition itself would give far more depth to the character and it wouldn't make the humans feel as onedimensional and antagonistical to the nature, simply due to the fact that they exist. Their leader simply wants power for the sake of it, and that simply makes them seem shallow and far too simple of a character.

And the other side that is relevant is nature itself, which are the animals. The animals rely even more on our preconceived notions and knowledge, and are mostly portrayed as territorial. Their existence is threatened by humans and the movie then uses the nature to create one big metaphor about us exploiting the habitat we live in for shallow benefits. But it doesn't really seem to be understanding enough to get that animals, just like humans, with humans also being animals, seek the most efficient way to get the comfort and resources that will make them live the most prosperous life they could. Just like them, we are territorial, and want to prosper. What makes us different is that we are capable of understanding how our actions impacts everyone else. The movie doesn't really appear to our rationality, and simply boils down to conclude that, hurting nature is bad, because we are selfish. It doesn't really try to understand the root of the selfishness, which is a very animalistic need of being better.

The movie pretty much makes the argument that we are greedy, and we should stop, because nature will push back, and we will feel sorry we were ambitious. It pretty much goes full 5 year old and presents people who just want to use nature for their own ambitions without concern for others while fueled by greed. It doesn't really display any more complex motivations past I want this so I am gonna get it. So it simply sways in the direction of its argument simply by making a lot of metaphors and presenting you an argument you probably have plenty of reasons personally to back up. But it doesn't really build on it and merely presents it, and used that as a basis of creating visuals on the screen. This is the way most Ghibli movies are presented, with them usually picking an idea and developing interesting visuals without really wrapping everything neatly or presenting a story, which makes me dislike them. It might work on children, but Ghibli movies simply don't carry themselves in a way that I would deem thoughtful, because it doesn't try to create depth between what it wants to present. Mononoke Hime, just like every other Ghibli movie, shows you things, amongst which it is centered around.

But what I can appreciate about this movie comparative to the others is that it at least has an argument. The actions in it aren't pointless and the characters to have their own personal goals to which we can relate. They're not meant to be fairy tale like to which were you should marvel at, and their actions can be understood, despite the fact it is a really superficial understanding and presentation. And well, the fact that I agree with it helps. Yes, human ambition will hurt their environment and therefore them afterwards. But the movie is too expressive of its own ideals and too dismissive of the ideals that drive the people it would deem antagonistical forward. I could see a clear divide on how the humans are treat for their ambition in terms of their thinking and logic, and how the animals and the forest is seen as, despite there being clear parallels to be drawn between the animals being territorial and seeking more territory and benefits, just like the humans.

Ultimately, while I've enjoyed the message of the movie due to reasons unrelated to the movie, and the way it looked visually, I cannot consider it a truly good movie, due to how onedimensionally it portrayed everything and how it sometimes presented details irrelevant to its theme. I still deem it guilty of relying too much on feeling and too little on portraying a sound narrative, but I did see the barebones of a narrative in this movie, and there's more thought to be put behind any character's action, than any other Ghibli movie I have had watched.

• Who I would recommend Mononoke Hime to and who I would tell to avoid the series.

What I've personally enjoyed it for is the classic Ghibli eye for detail put in each frame of the animation, and the fact that I could at least appreciate the fact that I felt that Mononoke Hime is the Ghibli movie that I actually think isn't formulaic and actually tries to be different from other movies produced by the studio. In the situation that I had to recommend this to someone that has never seen a Ghibli movie, I'd recommend this because it felt the most ambitious and it actually had the most to say, rather than seem like its purpose was to entertain and marvel children. It is still in the same vein, without putting much thought in the motivations of the characters and how they think, but rather dragging them in a direction, but it does display a message that gets very little presentation.

So it depends if you're looking for a simple movie, that conveys the message that mankind should preserve nature, and leave aside their ambition or not. If you are, Mononoke Hime gets the job done. But note that I didn't really particularly find it thoughtful in the execution of what it tried to carry through, so if you don't mind its ideas simply being presented, you probably won't have a problem with how the events of the story are presented. At heart it is a very nice looking movie, that is also just as simple.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Nov 27, 2020

Cole38

Not Recommended

Wow, I am appalled. I cannot believe there are so many high ratings for this movie. During my two hours watching this "Ghibli classic," I often checked the running time, only to groan at the fact that I still had a slow hour, fifty minutes, forty minutes, etc to go before I can be freed from this boredom. Princess Mononoke is a bad movie. There, I said it. I'm sure many will disagree with me, although I have no idea why, but let me start with what was good about this train wreck.

Firstly, I'd like to say I have never truly been disappointed by ... a Ghibli film. All that I have had the pleasure of watching so far have been nothing but great movies, classics that have endured the test of time. However, this was not the case with Princess Mononoke. But, this is Studio Ghibli we're talking about. They never fail in all regards. So here are some good things about the film.

Art: 7
The art and animation are top-tier for its time. Movement is smooth, visuals are stunning, and some character designs, such as the Forest Spirit, were not given little effort. Studio Ghibli has always had great animation quality, and Princess Mononoke is no exception. Nature was drawn amazingly in this film, from forests to rivers and cliffsides, each shot and scene felt epic to view. Angles were utilized well in the film as well. However, I can't give it a ten due to some boring character designs and the fact that the movie is older, and won't have the same animation quality of today's greats like Kimi no Nawa and Koe no Katachi.

Sound: 3
I don't have much to say here. The BGM was befitting of the mood of the scenes and the overall setting of the film, but it was nothing special. Now, before I begin to completely destroy this show, I will say that I watched the English dub. That could have an effect on my rating. Are you ready?
The voice acting and dialogue in this movie is god-awful. I found myself cringing in perpetual disappointment with each line delivered in the show. The VA's were seemingly incapable of emotion, and the sheer quietness of the VA's clashed heavily with the loud BGM and SFX so much that I found myself adjusting the volume in regular intervals to be able to hear the shitty dialogue while also trying not to go deaf from the speaker-blasting SFX and BGM. This was an incredible annoyance added to an already bad movie.

Story: 5
I'll give the story credit where it's due. The multiple conflicts in the show were portrayed well in battle, and the central theme of Mononoke is great. I interpreted it as a Man vs. Nature theme showing that technology and nature need not oppose each other, and that it is humans that cause the rift between the two. This is all too true in our modern world, and I think that Princess Mononoke did well in the execution of its theme. Studio Ghibli portrayed the push-and-pull relationship between man and nature in its usual magical and unique way, and that's how you can tell a movie is a Ghibli movie. The "antagonists" had morally just motives for their relatively morally unjust actions, and that gave the conflict complexity and realism that ordinarily would've allowed me to achieve a heartfelt appreciation for the movie's philosophical nature. However, the pacing of the film is erratic. Ashitaka is immediately kicked out of his village after saving their lives, and then we're rushed into the war between the Iron Town and the Forest Gods. Ashitaka saves a wolf girl for no reason, and then nobody can decide if they love or hate him for the rest of the movie. I don't think the overall story is bad, as the theme and conflict were well done, but I was just uninterested by how the story was told. Also, what was that ending? "Cool, we saved the day! Okay, bye!" How boring is that?

Characters: 2
Ohhhh-ho-ho boy, here we go. Every damn character in this movie is dreadfully one-dimensional and incredibly boring. Ashitaka had no thought put into his character. He is a traveling village boy who has the reflexes of a god and seemingly cannot die due to plot convenience. Pair that with a bad VA and a shit script and you're in for one hell of a terrible MC. San is just as uninspired. She spends the entire movie rambling about how humans are bad doesn't develop a bit. Her and Ashitaka's relationship to one another is left completely in the water and by the end you're not sure if they love each other, are just friends, or genuinely don't care either way. Their entire relationship arc was just boring and uninspired. As for the rest of the cast, they're all the same just with less screen time. Eboshi has one interesting thing about her, and that's the fact that she's using technology to save her people. She's not entirely a bad person, but perfectly flawed and human. Too bad she doesn't get any screen time. The gods of the forest are all the same.

How to be a Forest God in Princess Mononoke:
Step 1: "We hate hooman".
Step 2: *Cliche wise saying because we are gods*
Step 3: Die.

I did enjoy the second Boar god though, for his determination and conviction. The best character in the movie is Yakul by a long shot. All hail Yakul and his wonderful benevolence.

Overall: 4
As much as I wanted to love this movie, I cannot say I enjoyed it even a bit. My rating of 4 comes from nothing over than its reputation and few good qualities in its two-hour runtime. If you enjoyed this movie, that's perfectly fine, as I can see the good that could've come from this movie. However, the execution was just too poor. I am legitimately surprised that there aren't any low reviews for Princess Mononoke. I hope that my next Studio Ghibli film doesn't disappoint like this one did.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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